Outspoken truckies’ advocate Wes Walker is appalled at what he discovered on a weekend drive along sections of Queensland’s Cunningham Highway undergoing repairs.
Walker said he visited the area after several safety concerns raised by truckies over the recent closures of the Fisher Park truck stops on the east and west sides of the highway at Tregony and South Branch Road in Maryvale.
Those rest areas have now been taken over by contractors for the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) as a base for “safety” upgrades.
The nearest alternative rest areas for truckies are now the Aratula Roadside Rest Area, approximately 24 kilometres east of the closure, with toilet facilities, also accessible to heavy vehicles travelling in both directions, and the Gladfield Rest Area, approximately 16 kilometres west of the closure.
But Walker said the Gladfield option only has a room for two B-doubles and is in fact a vehicle inspection site which means truckies could be asked to move on at any time.
“You could be having your hour’s sleep or two hour’s sleep and they’re tapping on your window telling you to f***k off,” Walker said.
“Why didn’t they put all the equipment and materials in a farmer’s paddock like they do in the rest of the country and keep those rest areas open?”
TMR told Big Rigs it is working quickly to complete these works and aims to reopen the rest areas by mid-2026, weather and conditions permitting.
But a frustrated Walker said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the delays drag on even longer. Meanwhile, he said truckies are forced to slow to 60km/h in large sections of the Cunningham that don’t need any work.
“In my opinion, the amount of equipment they have for major roadworks there would be like building a house with one handsaw and one hammer.
“Yes, you’ll the job done but it’s going to take you a lot longer. They also had eight stop-and-go men sitting around there on a Sunday on double rates.”
Walker was so incensed by what he saw he took it upon himself to highlight one of the humps in the road about half-way between the two closed rest bays.
“I found it my duty for the safety of the public to highlight it a lot better than a couple of little white crosses. Instead of going there with a little spray can they should have turned up with a bobcat.
“That would flip a car hit on the wrong angle. There’s nothing else like that. It’s the worst I’ve seen. If they’re talking about urgent repairs, that should have been done months ago.”
TMR told Big Rigs it acknowledges the concerns raised by the heavy vehicle industry regarding the temporary closure of Fisher Park Rest Areas on the Cunningham Highway.
“These closures are necessary to facilitate critical safety upgrades between the Fisher Park Truck Stop at Tregony and South Branch Road in Maryvale and these upgrades will improve road safety for all road users,” a spokesperson said.
In an earlier media release about work on the highway, TMR Southern Queensland Regional Director Bill Lansbury said the work will improve safety and reduce the frequency and severity of crashes on this section of the Cunningham Highway.
“Improvements include road widening, increasing the shoulder width, pavement strengthening and repair, removing roadside hazards, installing guardrails, audio tactile line marking and wide centre line marking,” Lansbury said.
Wes Walker, you’re an absolute gem, mate. There are so few people who take it upon themselves to act in the public good; and, they always end-up doing a hell of a lot for us all. God Bless you, Wes, for your concern, and all you do for the good of others. And, a pox on the lazy, fat-cat pollies, who never do anything to earn their huge salaries.